REYES v. KIMBALL

The complaint was properly dismissed at the close of plaintiffs' evidence since that evidence would not have permitted the jury to conclude rationally that the chair from which plaintiff fell suffered from a design defect at the time defendant manufacturers placed it in the stream of commerce (see, D'Elia, v. Martin A. Gleason, Inc., Funeral Homes, 250 A.D.2d 803) or, for that matter, at the time of the accident. There was no evidence that the subject chair ever manifested the defects alleged by plaintiffs. We note particularly the absence of testimony as to whether the screws referred to by plaintiffs' expert were missing from the chair at the time of the accident. Indeed, the testimony of plaintiffs' expert as to the cause of the accident was speculative and without support in the record, and, as such, insufficient to support a finding that the purported defects had been a "substantial factor" in causing plaintiff's injury (see,Voss v. Black Decker Mfg. Co., 59 N.Y.2d 102; Rodriguez v. Davis Equip. Corp., 235 A.D.2d 222).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.